Posted on 06/16/2009 11:17:30 AM PDT by Born Conservative
The four police officers who went to Brenda Williams' apartment the evening of May 28 were ready to wrap up, awaiting only the completion of a citation charging the North Scranton woman with disorderly conduct before calling it a night.
Then Ms. Williams emerged from her kitchen holding a knife with a wooden handle and an 8-inch blade, and suddenly everything changed.
Within seconds, as the 52-year-old woman ignored commands to drop the weapon as she moved toward one of the officers, three of them fired, fatally wounding Ms. Williams in what Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola ruled Monday was a justifiable response to the threat she presented.
"In light of the facts that were presented to me by the state police, it is my opinion the officers involved - their actions - were justified and that no criminal charges will filed be against them," Mr. Jarbola said at a news conference at which he released the findings of the investigation.
If the long-awaited disclosure took some of the mystery out of what happened inside Ms. Williams' second-floor apartment at 1501 N. Lincoln Ave., it is not likely to end the questions about how the Police Department handled what started out as a harassment call involving a mentally ill woman.
Attorney William Mikita Jr., who represented the Williams family, said he disagrees with Mr. Jarbola's conclusion that the shooting was justified.
"We've got one officer making the determination that she's not a threat to herself and minutes later, she's dead," Mr. Mikita said. "How does something like that happen? Did they lose control of the scene?"
Referring occasionally to a diagram of Ms. Williams' apartment and photos from the scene posted on a wall at his Spruce Street office, Mr. Jarbola spent nearly an hour outlining the circumstances that led to the shooting and how he reached his determination.
For the first time, the four officers who were at Ms. Williams' apartment - and who have been on administrative duty since the incident - were identified.
Cpl. Robert Stanek, who was the supervisor at the scene, is a 16-year police veteran, Mr. Jarbola said. Officer James Smith, who had had previous contact with Ms. Williams, has been with the department for 11 years. The other two, Officers Jason Knoch and Eric Jordan, have been on the force for just over a year.
The district attorney also revealed Ms. Williams was shot five times, including two lethal wounds to her abdomen and another potentially fatal wound that severed the femoral artery in her right leg. She had a sixth wound from falling on the knife.
According to Mr. Jarbola, Officers Smith and Jordan were the first to respond, going to Ms. Williams' apartment shortly after 10 p.m. after a neighbor complained Ms. Williams had been harassing her and her fiance.
Officer Smith had responded to a similar call two days earlier, on May 26, when he learned Ms. Williams had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who had possibly stopped taking her prescribed medication, Mr. Jarbola said.
When a nude Ms. Williams retreated back into her apartment after answering the door, the officers entered and found the woman underneath the covers in her bedroom. She appeared agitated and annoyed, yelling and cursing at the officers.
Around 10:40 p.m., Officer Smith contacted the Communications Center and requested an ambulance for a possible involuntary commitment of Ms. Williams under Section 302 of the state's mental health law. The law permits the involuntary commitment of individuals who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.
Around the same time, Officer Smith requested Cpl. Stanek be notified of the situation. Emergency medical technicians arrived at 10:45 p.m., and Cpl. Stanek and Officer Knoch came about 15 minutes later, around 11, Mr. Jarbola said.
At that time, the EMTs told state police, Ms. Williams "was pacing around the apartment nude, She was agitated, screaming and cursing at everyone," he said.
After a discussion with the other officers in the apartment's living room, and with no evidence Ms. Williams posed a danger to herself or others, Cpl. Stanek made the decision there would be no 302 commitment and instructed Officer Knoch to write up a citation for disorderly conduct instead. The EMTs were also released.
"They were basically waiting for the citation to be written, and they were going to leave," Mr. Jarbola said.
That's when Ms. Williams emerged from her bedroom and went to her kitchen at the other end of the apartment, he said. The officers heard her rummaging through the kitchen, and one suggested she may be getting a knife.
Mr. Jarbola said Ms. Williams, who was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighed about 194 pounds, then returned from the kitchen through the dining room, holding a knife in front of her as she walked into the living room. The officers drew their weapons and ordered her to drop the knife, but she refused and headed directly toward Officer Smith, who moved backward through her bedroom door.
She was 2 to 5 feet from Officer Smith when the officers fired - Officer Smith from just inside the bedroom, and Officer Knoch and Sgt. Stanek from another doorway to her right, Mr. Jarbola said.
It is still unclear who fired first, but Officers Smith and Knoch each fired twice and Cpl. Stanek once, he said. Officer Jordan, who could not see Ms. Williams from where he was standing, did not discharge his weapon.
The time that elapsed between Ms. Williams going to the kitchen and the officers opening fire was less than 30 seconds and probably "more like 10 to 15 seconds," Mr. Jarbola said.
The district attorney said law enforcement officials are allowed to use deadly force under Pennsylvania law "when there is an imminent threat of death of serious bodily injury to themselves or others" - a condition he said was met when Ms. Williams advanced on Officer Smith with the knife.
Mr. Jarbola said he could not speak to the issue of whether the officers were complacent in allowing Ms. Williams to go to her kitchen unsupervised.
"She's not under arrest. It's in her own home," he said. "The officers - I don't know - they could have assumed she was going to the bathroom."
Police Chief David Elliott, who received a copy of the state police report late Monday afternoon, called the four officers "good cops" who have never had any type of disciplinary issues in the time he has been chief.
With the completion of the state police investigation and Mr. Jarbola's review, the department will now conduct its own internal review "to make sure we followed the correct procedures and whether there is anything we could have done differently," he said.
In the meantime, three of the four officers have seen psychologists and have been cleared to return to duty, he said. The fourth had an appointment Monday.
"These officers just took someone's life. Mentally, it can take a toll on you," he said.
Mr. Mikita, the attorney who represents Ms. Williams' family, did not rule out the possibility that the family will file a civil suit, but he said they will need to review all the evidence before making that decision.
Just because someone disagrees with what a cop does doesn’t mean s/he is a Cop Hater......
I would like to remind you there are no perfect people on Earth, so there must not be any perfect Cops on Earth.........people do bad things and break the law..and that includes cops....
Yikes! Got to assume that was done with something like a box cutter. Hope the person who did it is dead.
BTW, pretty interesting website. I’ll be spending some time there. Thanks for posting (despite the gore).
Hello PNSN,
Funny how the monday morning Sherlock Holmes subject matter experts on (shoot do not shoot) situations, fail to understand that a LEO is authrorized to use deadly force when a perp has the opportunity, the abilty and places his life or another person’s in in jeopardy.
I have found that the FR has an abundance of metro-sexuals, addled fools, limp wrists, reds, marxist and the other usual suspects, posting about things they know nothing about when it comes to law enforcement.
I think they would have preferred the perp to knife all the officers, then blame the NRA and former President Bush.
Keep the faith.
Respectfully,
NSNR
Don’t you believe the Jackboots are always right?
“Officer Smith had responded to a similar call two days earlier, on May 26, when he learned Ms. Williams had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who had possibly stopped taking her prescribed medication, Mr. Jarbola said.”
Reading problems? When a paranoid schizophrenic stops taking their meds, starts harassing the neighbors, gets naked and starts shouting, screaming and eventually gets a knife........ it’s a fair bet they’re descending into a psychotic episode. That’s what happens when paranoid schizophrenics stop taking their anti-psychotic meds, they become psychotic again.
She wasn’t shot because she was suicidal (paranoid schizphrenics are rarely suicidal), she was shot because she was advancing on an officer with a knife, making herself a threat to him and the other officers.
This is what happens when law enforcement intersects with the violently mentally ill population, somebody dies. This time it was the mentally ill person.
The problem is that the dangerously mentally ill cannot be locked up until after they have assaulted or killed someone.
Liberalism kills in many ways.
However, for many posters here on FR, there are no good cops, and no cops that do any good.
For instance, she came at them with a knife, and got shot+killed for her efforts. Cop haters say that's bad.
If they had used non-lethal force and tasered her, and she fell on the knife....saidsame cophaters would still have the same opinion. If the cops control the situation, get the woman handcuffed, and have her involuntarily committed....yup, the jackbooted thugs are kicking down doors and hauling innocent people off against their will. If the cops just leave the apartment, and later the woman stabbed herself (or someone else) with a knife....yep, same cophaters would be there with "Why didn't they DO something" comments.
Some people are just irrationally dissatisfied.
oh, but wait, IT WAS A TV SHOW!
first things first, the cops lost control of the scene. NEVER let an EDP go near the kitchen!
however, she pulled a knife. sorry, lady, i'm not bringing my fists to a knife fight.
Having worked with people w/psych issues, it only takes a second or two and people can change to an extremely aggressive mode. You can’t talk the crazy out of them. You can’t reason with them. 1 full second later, she could have sliced one of the cops.
Legally, she can curse naked in her apt and piss all over the floor ... you can’t 302 her.
its not like they were waiting for her to charge them. Alright boys get out the net!!
a taser wouldn’t stop her. Remember Rodney King got hit w/ 2 tasers and then beat off 6 cops breaking the ones’ arm ... BEFORE the camera started rolling
I was called a racist yesterday by one of the prodigal verbage fools. Yes, they hide behind their aegis of the computer monitor.
Good to see you on the site and take care my friend.
Sincerely,
NSNR
Well, when the only tool you have is a hammer then thats what you learn to apply to all ‘problems’.
"She's not under arrest. It's in her own home," he said. "The officers - I don't know - they could have assumed she was going to the bathroom.""
So the officers made the mistake of respecting her civil rights?
The problem or mistake is not the officers, it's the law in general and the law in regards to the mentally ill in particular.
Liberalism kills.
“she was shot because she was advancing on an officer with a knife, making herself a threat to him and the other officers.”
In this case that is what happened. Many other times the suicidal person is only a threat to themselves but still get shot. And I’m not referring to suicide by cop.
In one case SWAT was called because a man was inside his home threatening suicide. he was alone but there were reports of firearms in the home.
SWAT did what SWAT does. 369 rounds later the guy was shot, a cop was shot, and a cop was dead.
The guy never had a gun, the cops shot each other.
look at the context next time
No I don’t. They have some major league screw ups.
I’ll call them screw ups when warranted.
As opposed to the other that find a Nazi behind every Uniform, and a rights violation behind every action no matter how insignificant.
“As opposed to the other that find a Nazi behind every Uniform, and a rights violation behind every action no matter how insignificant.”
So why the comments about the cop haters implying that anyone who thinks its wrong to shoot this woman hates cops?
Are we supposed to trust our politicians and other public servants implicitly?
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